One of life's greatest mysteries is: "who has the best burger in all the nation?!" It's one of the grand questions of the ages and is put to the test time and time again with burger competitions.

Bates Technical College's Culinary Arts crew threw their hat into the ring during November's 2014 World Food Championships in Las Vegas and came out on top with their Snooty Chef Burger. This masterpiece, created by Bates chef instructors JJ Meland and Roger Knapp, features ground Kobe beef and rib eye steak mixed with a Hungarian ragout blend spice from local gourmet seasoning gurus - two snooty chefs. They then add crispy bacon, tempura battered and fried Havarti cheese, a salad of spicy arugula, tomato and red onion tossed with a red wine vinaigrette and a caramelized onion mayonnaise all set upon a toasted Kaiser bun.

This behemoth earned them fourth out of 50 of those competing, advancing them to the final round where they placed in the top 10.

The displayed culinary prowess has earned them an invite to compete again this year in Florida and from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27, the citizens of the South Sound may dig into this championship burger at Bates Technical College's café for a cool $9.95 (price includes tax and fries).

Meland says, "We're excited to share this delicious burger we've worked hard to develop with our community. The Bates team enjoyed the 2014 competition and we are excited to develop a new innovative burger to bring to next year's World Food Championships."

Go forth and discover what a world championship contender tastes like and check out more about one of their secrets to flavor success at twosnootychefs.com.

When Weekly Volcano scribe Kim Thompson approached a locavore story for the greater Tacoma area, she got totally stoked. Sure, she had some reservations, but it wasn't like she'd asked me to go vegan. (That one would have been exceptionally tough for this particular omnivore. As long as the cow had something near a 253 area code, she could still have a burger, right?) So, off she went in search of Tacoma restaurants keeping it Tacoma. She discovered many restaurateurs who deserved awards for their research, dedication and preservation of the locavore. Therefore, Thompson doled out awards. Discover the winners here.

In 2010, a few days before the Weekly Volcano foodie and drinkie group Nosh League gathered at TWOKOi Japanese Restaurant and drank 10,000 gallons of sake, or so it felt, WV scribe Jennifer Johnson announced to the world that the Tacoma restaurant's sake specialist Jeannie Han was in fact very special, a certified sake specialist special.

News just arrived at Weekly Volcano World Headquarters that restaurant industry magazine FSR has also discovered how Han's special talents. Here is the news release out of the TWOKOI camp. ...

Home to the largest sake selection in the Pacific Northwest TWOKOI Japanese Cuisine and the City of Tacoma lead the way with sake! The September 2014 FSR Magazine recognized TWOKOI's sake program as outstanding in the nation!

Right in the heart of Tacoma's downtown museum district, TWOKOI offers sake like you have never experienced before. Our educated staff will guide you through a personal sake journey. Whether you are sampling or pairing, our extensive sake selection will be sure to satisfy your palette!

Offering a variety of classes including sake as well as sushi and team building - inquire anytime about signing up today!

TWOKOI opens at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday through Friday for lunch, happy hour, and dinner and 2:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday for happy hour and dinner. Classes are available seven days a week.

Harmon Brewing Co. and Mash teamed up to sponsor Aroma of Tacoma, but Williams and Nichol ran the show, inviting home brewers to brew beers in 23 beer styles using handcrafted products, containing ingredients available to the general public and made using private equipment by hobbyist brewers. Saturday, July 19, judges gathered at the Harmon Hub in Tacoma's Stadium District and sampled the "brew"-testant's beers. It was a BJCP sanctioned home brewing competition with Pro-Am selections.

Saturday morning, the regional home brewers gathered in the Garden to drink beer before 11 a.m. and laugh their asses off as Tacoma home brewers Williams and Nichol announced the winners. The names given to the home brews were freakin' hilarious. Here is the list of winners:

Coffee-infused stouts are fairly common in the craft beer industry, especially in imperial stouts. It makes perfect sense to match roasted coffee with roasted malt.

Harmon Brewing Company has taken the coffee-beer combination in a different direction with its Hop Coffee - a coffee roast accented with its beer. Made with Bluebeard Coffee beans, Hop Coffee is a coffee that is all about the beer.

"We have taken two of America's most favorite tastes - coffee and beer - and fused them," says Harmon Brewing Co. co-owner Pat Nagle. "My business partner Carole Ford came up with the idea of taking some of our beers, reducing them down to syrups for flavoring for local coffee."

Ford chose Tacoma coffee roaster Bluebeard Coffee, which buys its beans from Latin America, Indonesia and East Africa, as their partner.

Bluebeard principle Kevin McGlocklin is excited to work with Harmon Brewing. "They are go-getters, always coming up with something new," says McGlocklin.

McGlocklin is creating a special dark roast for Hop Coffee, which the Harmon folks believe will work better with their beer reduction.

According to a news release, Harmon Brewing hired Melina Eshinshi, a professional chef, to handle the special alchemy between the coffee and beer. The flavored syrups are reductions of four Harmon signature craft beers: Mt. Takhoma Blonde with Orange Zest, Pinnacle Peak Pale Ale with Vanilla Bean, Pt. Defiance IPA with housemade Torani caramel sauce and Puget Sound Porter with housemade chocolate sauce.

"I can't reveal all the trade secrets, but for example I mixed our Pale Ale with an all-natural vanilla extract and that is going to make a fantastic Macchiato," said Eshinski in the news release. "The Puget Sound Porter seems a natural fit with any mocha drink."

Ford and Nagle will sell their Hop Coffee and standard coffee drinks from the northwest corner of the Harmon Tap Room. Stadium Bistro, the restaurant that occupied this space before the Harmon Tap Room, had hired a guy to build a coffee shop in the corner. The Harmon Brewing Co. will take the concept to completion, opening the Hop Coffee business during its Progressive Party Saturday, July 26 - the official merging of the two St. Helens neighborhood sister restaurants Harmon Tap Room and The Hub into one giant beer complex, which I announced several months ago. Meet the brewers, drink specialty beers, taste the new menu, sample desserts from Harmon's new in-house baker, hug a Harmon employee - the Progressive Party will run 1-6 p.m. for $15 a head. Spac eis limited; grab your tickets at The Hub and Harmon Tap Room.

The homebrewing competition Aroma of Tacoma awards ceremony will also be held during the Progressive Party.

"You can come in and grab your regular coffee drinks, or you can get one of our specialty Hop Coffees," explains Nagle. "It's going to be its own coffee shop, open at 6 a.m., where you can come in with your laptop, have a cup of coffee, watch our guys brew beer in the brewery room. It will be like having your own large office, complete with Wifi."

Bluebeard Coffee will help hire and train the Hop Coffee staff.

The Hop Coffee logo carries the "H" from the Harmon logo and the "O" is a big hop.

"It's a beautiful logo," says Nagle with a big smile.

The Hop Coffee space will also house Harmon's merchandise - shirts, caps and such - which Nagle hopes to set up an online store to sell both the coffee and swag.

"We're looking to remodel the Harmon downtown to have a Hop Coffee outlet there, maybe a Hop Coffee out at the Gig Harbor Hub."

Could there be Hop Coffee huts?

In any case, you won't be sorry to wake up and smell the coffee with Hop Coffee.

Wine Spectator has announced its annual Restaurant Awards, honoring exemplary wine lists around the world. This year, 3,748 restaurants have been named award winners, spanning 50 U.S. states and more than 80 other countries and territories. Thirty-one Washington state restaurants earned one of three awards: the coveted Grand Award, Best of Award of Excellence or Award of Excellence.

Six top notch dining destinations - Clos Maggiore in London, La Toque in Napa, Nice Matin in New York, Saison in San Francisco, The Stonehouse in Santa Barbara and Studio in Laguna Beach - have earned Grand Award honors for the first time in Wine Spectator's 2014 Restaurant Wine List Awards. These restaurants join 68 other winners who have maintained their status as a top destination for wine drinkers, including Canlis and Wild Ginger in Seattle.

While no South Sound restaurant earned Grand Award honors, two restaurants from the our region made the Award of Excellence list: La Petite Maison and Waterstreet Café + Bar - both from Olympia.

La Petite Maison is a French restaurant with entrees in the $24-$39 range and a corkage fee of $15.

Waterstreet Cafe + Bar is a contemporary American restaurant with a fireplace and entrees in the $16-$42 range. Its corkage fee is $18.

As part of Seattle Beer Week, the Beveridge Place Pub held its annual Iron Brewer Competition May 11. Like television's Iron Chef, brewers are challenged to create something tasty using a set group of ingredients. Then, the resulting beers go head-to-head in a blind tasting.

About this blog

Served, a blog by the Weekly Volcano, is the region’s feedbag of fresh chow daily, local restaurant news, New Beer Column, bar and restaurant openings and closings, breaking culinary news and breaking culinary ground - all brought to the table with a dollop of Internet frivolity on top.